Family medicine

Welcome to the SDFM podcast brought to you by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

In this bonus episode, we're excited to bring you the recording of one of the plenary speakers from our recent conference on practice and quality improvement.

We hope you enjoy it as much as our attendees did.

The front pews are empty.

And that's why I got the mobile mic, so I can come out and talk to you, okay? So I won't spend as much time on the stage, but I just wanted to start out by acknowledging the fact that you are all, for the most part, you're teachers.

your Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

And we all remember our favorite teachers.

And all of us remember, when we were in elementary school, we used to have attendance, right? And they call your name, and I would be really excited about the fact that they say, Gary, I'm like, hey, President, I'm here.

Thank you.

And we've got Daniel Ciccarone, who is professor of family and community medicine and addiction medicine at UCSF.

Welcome.

Good morning.

And, of course, she wrote the recent story, A Teen Autopsy Marks the Arrival of a Deadly Drug in San Francisco.

We've got Daniel Tsai, Dan Tsai, Director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

And we've got Daniel Ciccarone, who is Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Addiction Medicine at UCSF.

We want to hear from you, of course.

put the health back in healthcare.

Today, we're joined by Dr. Sam Robinson, a board-certified family medicine physician and founder of Altora Health, a longevity-focused, direct primary care practice in Folsom, California.

After years of practicing in the traditional insurance-based healthcare system, Dr. Robinson came to believe that preventing chronic disease requires more than annual checkups and 15-minute office visits.

And I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that.

Why are they the perfect longevity doctors? Family doctors have seen patients at the worst part of their disease.

And so they know when and how they really should intervene before it happens.

And that's why preventive health is such a big part of family medicine.

And it should be.

In other words, what specialty you'll pursue.

There are a wide variety of options that you can choose from, and we're equally proud of all of our graduates, but we take particular pride in the fact that over 25% of our graduates go into family medicine.

That's more than double the national average, and it's particularly important because of the needs that exist in Arkansas and the greater Mississippi Delta region, which is what we say is our focus area.

Our area that we're really plugged into addressing health care disparities and health care workforce issues in that region.

So today we're going to focus on family medicine and what it all does that entail? Why is the specialty in such high demand and why would someone want to pursue it? We'll do that with one of my favorite board-certified family medicine physicians, Dr.

Sam Palmer.

Sam and I have known each other for 27 years, and Sam is a board-certified family medicine physician.

He's a faculty member here, and Sam, I appreciate you joining us today.

Yeah.

So, Right now, I'm a third-year resident in family medicine over here in the Midwest.

Family medicine is traditionally outpatient heavy, and our program just happens to be more inpatient heavy.

So I will say inpatient heavy specialties, critical care, anything procedural, the hours are more grueling just because there needs to be 24-hour coverage.

Even with our service, there's 24-hour coverage, right? So I think when residency first came about, we all kind of understand how residency was even developed.

That is real.

That is reality.

And so whatever you do, if you're in a field you are not happy with, if you can't see yourself doing whatever, if you're Dr. Hussain, it's family medicine or hospitalist medicine.

I'm teasing, of course.

You know, I think that is the amazing part about family medicine and why I love family medicine is the ability to take care of entire families.

So you may have three or four generations of of a family that you're taking care of.

Sometimes they're all in the same room, which is a wild experience with that part.

Let me know.

Just because that shows that curiosity piece, that investment in not just their own learning, but in what's actually happening with the patient.

And I think an exceptional especially family medicine, our primary care physician is somebody that has that desire to find out the next steps and really see a problem through so we can find the best results for the patient and really help them get on the pathway to health and wellness.

Yeah.

We've also discussed medical incident investigation with Dr. Rosie Beningworth, the CEO of the UK's aviation-style investigatory body for medical incidents.

In today's episode, we are going to discuss a different aspect of health system safety, the risks of communication error between laboratories and primary care offices, specifically family medicine specialists in Ontario.

To do this, we have two guests from the section of general and family practice, a part of the Ontario Medical Association.

The first is the chair of the SGFP, Dr. David Barber.

We also have Dr. Kevin Brophy, who is the chief physician officer of digital health.

Dr. David Barber is a family physician, assistant professor at Queen's University Department of Family Medicine, and medical director of Providence Manor in Kingston.

He chairs the OMA's section on general and family practice and is a vocal advocate on primary care policy, digital health, and AI in medicine.

Kevin Brophy

Rob Sullivan, Proven Health Alternatives.

Today's guest is Dr. Joel Fuhrman, board-certified family physician, nutritional researcher, best-selling author.

His core method is simple but provocative.

The same foods that may help protect against cancer can also support cardiovascular health, brain health, healthy weight, and longevity.

So, Sue, you're out of luck.

Also joining us is Dr. Susan Kuchera, who is the program director of the Jefferson Health Abington Family Medicine Residency Program and an associate clinical professor of family and community medicine.

in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

I could go on and on, Sue, about your qualifications, but we're out of time for that.